Blog Post
The Local Library
Like everything else, it's changed a lot
This could be an upbeat post or a downer one, depending upon how you look at it.
The library in our little town is proud of the fact it is one of the few remaining original Andrew Carnegie libraries. You may know that around the turn of the twentieth century Carnegie spent some of his great wealth providing the funds for establishing local libraries around the country.
The library I grew up frequenting was not a Carnegie library. But it had the same feel to it. Even libraries in the bigger cities had The Feel. It was beckoning you to a treasure of new learning experiences.
Do you remember getting your first library card? What a privilege! Most of the library staff seemed to be older ladies with kind eyes and a lot of patience. Sprinkled in were the gruffer ones, who let you know what a bad thing it was to bring your books back late or - heaven forbid - lose one. You were proud to learn the Dewey decimal system and find your own way to the proper section in order to locate what you wanted.
Until a couple of decades ago all libraries had that same feel to them for me, whether it was the Chicago Public Library or the Mayberry Public Library; beautiful and vast, or small, worn, and cozy. They were places you could find a chair or a bench and linger for as long as you wanted to.
My first big reality check about the changing face of the local library was while we lived in Arizona. Our little town was not such a little town any longer and a new library was deemed necessary. But the finished product was a huge shock, and not just to me. It was all sleek glass and windows with modern furniture, a huge area for computers, and all of that safe and comfortable feeling totally gone. Even the desks of the staff were transparent, allowing them no shred of privacy as far as I could see.
And now you had to learn their electronic system to check out your own books. Gone was the kind interaction of a librarian who asked if you were able to find what you were looking for as she checked you out, or to share that she liked the same author you do. I will admit that in time checking out my own books was convenient.
I thought the building was ugly, and someone wrote a letter to the editor expressing his disgust with the finished product. Obviously we and many other locals were out of the loop when it comes to a new library building. The building won numerous awards for architectural excellence.
Here we have clung to the original Andrew Carnegie Library with it's high ceilings, wonderful wood surfaces, and reading nooks. And a staff member still checks your books out, albeit with a card that is scanned, giving you a printed piece of paper reminding you when the book is due back. And just like in other libraries over the years, this one has emptied its shelves of many types of books as soon as a certain period of time goes by without someone checking the book out. Since there is so much room left on the shelves in both the children and adult sections, I don't get that.
The upside is, you can tap into the state library system from your own home computer or the library will do it for you, to do a search for whatever book you're looking for. Unlike the libraries of my childhood days, I now have access to dozens of libraries for reading material. During these months of closures and restricted access to all facilities, that's been a wonderful feature. And yes, the library will allow you to use their computer system, and for a small fee their copier system as well. They have been very open to carrying all of my own published books.
I don't know if my local library has decided Laura Ingalls Wilder or Dr. Seuss are no longer politically correct. I'm afraid to ask. Maybe I should. Isn't that what the Nazis did, start deciding for you what you and/or your children should or shouldn't read? Will all of our libraries come to that?
Yes, MaryJo, it is what the Nazis -- and all barbarians -- have done.
ReplyDeleteI am losing my lifelong love of libraries, as they (or at least the ones open to me) are becoming less like libraries and more like popular book stores. They've discarded all those wonderful out-of-print books that used to be found only in libraries and cozy, second-hand shops. I picked up some treasures when the purges started, though I didn't then recognize them for what they were until years later, when I tried to find some of those out-of-print titles in my library. Now, nothing is kept on the shelves more than a few years.
I've welcomed the addition of ebooks, especially in the past year when the library was shuttered for months on end, but ebooks have an even shorter "shelf" life in our library. Several titles were removed while I was still on the waitlist to check them out.
I pity the future generations, who will never know the joy of finding a forgotten book.
For as long as this dispensation lasts, those books will be there, just harder to find. And as is always the case, it is those who are not willing to blindly accept the norm and have the courage to speak against it that God uses to keep truth available.
DeleteYou and I both know some books are trash, there's no other word for them. But for us to decide what people should read, what their children should read, warning bells should be going off all over the place. As usual society isn't learning from the past. Those wanting control have; they see very well how to manipulate the younger generations.
As far as how our library looks, it isn't a Carnegie style, but it is beautifully designed by a local renown architect, in Frank Lloyd Wright style. But our beautiful library has been closed to the public since May when our area had a flood. So we can only get books curbside. It has been closed because of a decision to keep the children's books on site instead of taking them off site while the water damage is fixed. Meanwhile there are children's books all over the library as well as many other books because all books where returned when covid hit. Normally, at any one time, 40% of the books are checked out. Now these books are also all over the library making it impossible for the public to come in. We have not heard of a reopening date.
ReplyDeleteThe new electronic system is just a matter of getting use to. And this thing of removing books that are not PC is simply disgusting. Our world has gone mad! After reading the last newish secular book I have decided not to read anything current. I am sick to death reading about homosexuality which is so pervasive in today's literature. That's my 10 cents worth -- inflation from 2 cents worth. :)
The continued pushing at the public to accept 'alternate' lifestyles reminds me of the Nazis too, and communist regimes, who take control of media and what is available in written form to change and control mindset.
DeleteControl of what we can access to read is only part of the overall sense of being propagandized since even in the social media including computer searches are limited. It is worrisome. I guess I don't like the idea of printing out how to make dirty bombs, lol, but hey, most anything else goes as far as I can see. And yet, I too am sick of reading about alternative life styles and the negative treatment of our fellow humans. There is a way to write about the human condition that accents our positive human traits without wallowing in the negative.
ReplyDeleteThanks for such a thoughtful response. Controlling evil but not crossing the line into
Deletetrying to mold mindsets can be a murky area.
I stopped reading almost all contemporary books when the publishing houses started requiring writers to include homosexual and transgender characters in every book. Most of the books had had to be quickly rewritten to comply and they were universally bad, though some were much worse than others. If only 3 percent of the population fits in the LGBTQ group, why are they now prevalent in fiction? It's not normal, and writing as if it were isn't going to make it so. Though some young and vulnerable people will probably try to fit one or another on for size, seeking approval.
ReplyDeleteThe huge push to have our culture accept these alternate lifestyles which includes censoring those who question it or disagree is very troubling. The libraries are now being drawn into that. Which towns, directors, boards, have the insight to question it and the courage to comply?
DeleteThe huge push to have our culture accept these alternate lifestyles which includes censoring those who question it or disagree is very troubling. The libraries are now being drawn into that. Which towns, directors, boards, have the insight to question it and the courage to comply?
Delete